Manny Pacquiao: Down but Not Out

By

Gordon Marino

Nov. 22, 2013 5:55 p.m. ET

Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 knockouts) is set to return to the ring on Saturday in Macau, China, against former lightweight world champion Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 knockouts). But one question hovers: Can the 34-year-old Pacquiao regain his swagger and rise again to the pinnacle of boxing?

Last December, in the sixth round of an epic bout against Juan Manuel Marquez, Pacquiao sensed that Marquez was hurt and zeroed in for a kill shot. As Pacquiao leaned into a punch, Marquez detonated a perfectly timed right, catching Pacquiao square. The referee could have counted to 600.

A fighter who suffers a knockout is in danger of losing a sense of invincibility. This new vulnerability can impede a boxer's ability to attack without hesitation and to commit to his punches.

ENLARGE

Manny Pacquiao returns to the ring for his first bout since suffering a knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez in December.
Reuters

Hall of Famer George Foreman, who went down against Muhammad Ali, said, "It's hard for a boxer to return to the ring after getting knocked out. Once you have been knocked out, it seems to become easier to go down. You have to fight the urge to hit the canvas. And you also feel this dangerous need to go back in there and prove you can take a punch." Foreman said if he were in Pacquiao's position, he wouldn't have chosen a "hard puncher" like Rios as the opponent to make a return against.

Freddie Roach, Pacquiao's trainer, recalled his own amateur and pro career. "My first knockout loss destroyed my confidence. I had fought 150 amateur and 27 pro bouts without getting knocked out. In my mind, I was indestructible. Then Lenny Valdez turned the lights out on me…I was out before I landed." Roach added, "I was never the same after that."

After his first round knockout loss to Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson went into the second fight with Liston paralyzed with fear and was knocked out in 129 seconds. Roy Jones Jr. was partially dismantled when Antonio Tarver turned the black lights on him. Mike Tyson's invincibility was derailed after Buster Douglas stood over him.

Tyson recently recalled some advice that his late trainer Cus D'Amato gave him. "Cus would say, 'All the greats have been knocked out and come back. That is part of the reason they're great.'"

Former heavyweight king, Lennox Lewis, was knocked out twice, the second time in a title defense against Hasim Rahman in South Africa. "When I got back in the gym, with my great trainer, Emanuel Steward, we analyzed the fight and I just said to myself, 'Get cracking, Lennox.'" Lewis never got knocked out again. He stopped Rahman in a rematch and avenged his other knockout loss to Oliver McCall.

Can Pacquiao show the same resilience? He was knocked out twice early in his career but those defeats didn't prevent him from becoming a world champion in eight different weight classes. Still, Pacquiao turns 35 on Dec. 17 and the match against Rios will be the 62nd fight of a career which includes many brutal ring wars.

Roach, who personally knows the long-term damage that punches can deliver, strongly considered pushing the eject button on Pacquiao's boxing career, but Pacquiao felt he had something more to say with those destructive hands of his.

"When I began training Manny, [he] showed me video of the two knockout losses he suffered," Roach said. [Pacquiao] was proud of them. He told me 'It's part of boxing.' It didn't bother him. It was no big deal. He considered it part of the sport," Roach said. "It is precisely the way that [Pacquiao] understands his loss to Marquez. It is just part of the sport."

Most boxing experts believe that Rios is made to order for Pacquiao. A former world champion, Rios has one gear: forward and winging shots.

According to Compubox, in his last six fights almost 3/4 of the punches that Rios has thrown, and he throws a lot (averaging 74 per round), have been power shots.

Pacquiao doesn't think it will be a problem. "He likes to come inside and I like that style," Pacquiao said. "I don't like to chase and I'm pretty sure I won't have to chase him."

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